Eden,NSW Australia

Have you ever heard the saying” Good things come in small packages”?

Looking out my patio in the morning in Eden. There’s a voice from somewhere on the dock ringing a bell and hollering loudly a greeting to the travelers of Viking Neptune and welcoming us to Eden NSW. He wished us a glorious day and a safe journey!

Yes, Eden has its very own town crier! He is a lovely man and his job is to be the first to greet incoming visitors to the community. Eden is a very small town on the Sapphire Coast. There  are only 3,000+Citizens here, the downtown area is two blocks long and the people are friendly and warm. They have a history of being a “farming community” if you  consider killing and processing whales a farming type of activity. Although they no longer participate in that activity, they now are a prime area for whale watching. I learned so much today about the how and whys of whaling.

Yes, Eden has a killer whale museum and for a very good reason…Even when the indigenous peoples lived in this area, whales were used for food and it seems that there was a close spiritual connection with the Orca or killer whale. In current time, 1700-1900s when whaling was active, there were a pod of killer whales who stayed in the area and, believe it or not, helped the local whalers with their catch! The pod would separate out other whales (humpbacks or pilot whales mostly) and herd them into the bay. Then another grouping of the pod would keep them captive in the area while one would go near the whalers home and flap the water, jump and get the attention then lead the whalers out to where they had the whales herded. When the whalers killed the humpbacks, they allowed the killer whales to eat the tongue and lips before they returned to land with the carcass. It was a situation where everyone won except the humpback….this was a symbiotic relationship that continued and worked well. The whalers had names for each of the killer whales especially “old Tom” who seemed to be the leader of the pod.  When his body was found on shore, the local whalers had an autopsy done and his skeleton became the basis for the Killer whale Museum we visited. It has the full skeleton of Old Tom. It is an amazing thing to see. There’s so much more I could tell you, It was an incredible museum and for a small town to provide the funding and resources was amazing. Here’s just a few pictures:

Old Tom’s skeleton

A whale jaw bones

Spine segment

A replica of the lighthouse for the bay that you can enter and see the mechanisms and how they work

After the museum, I took pictures of various old buildings that have been restored.

 In the afternoon,after a nice little bus ride, we came to our afternoon cruise tour: Captain Sponge’s magical mystery tour..the interesting world of oyster farming. Wow! I had no idea how the oysters came to my plate!we spent the afternoon on the lake learning just how difficult it is to take a small wild oyster and transplant it into a basket where it will grow into a desired food product in three sizes.

Our boat

Low tide shows the wild oysters stuck on rocks at shoreline

Baskets of oysters strung along the lake. They are rotated monthly to prevent any barnacles or bacteria from damaging the oysters. Each farmer has a lease for the water in an area on the lake and can grow at least 30,000 dozen oysters a year.

Work shed for the farmer. There is a lot of prep work with the oysters…shaping them, turning and grading them.

Where the lake empties into the ocean. A beautiful beach!

There were farms up and down the shoreline.

During our tour, we were lucky enough to get to sample some great tasting oysters, fresh with a squeeze of lemon. The salty freshness of each of them can’t really be described adequately except to say Yummmmmm.

                                                                Fresh shucked happiness 

While we were on our boat tour the engine sputtered and the heat alarm went off…looked like we’d be stranded in the lake…so what do you do? Learn to shuck more oysters and enjoy an extra treat! Luckily we were on a Viking sponsored cruise. They will hold the ship for us since onboard time is 3pm and we are twenty minutes away in the middle of a lake! The problem was soon rectified and we were on our way.. no more oysters for us.

Returning to the ship was uneventful and at 4pm we left Eden. It was a wonderful surprise in a small package.

Good Bye Eden until we see you again!